Virginia Waters // Picnic

Yesterday it was so nice, sunny and warm that we (the block) decided to walk over to Virginia Waters which is such a beautiful place. It only took us about 20mins to get there and once we found a perfect, quite secluded, spot we set up camp and ate our lunch. Myself, along with others, just sat and read for a while before going on a little walk around the lake. If you were to walk around the whole lake then it is about 4 and a half miles but we just walked two miles. When we walked further in to the park the place just got busier and busier. I guess because around here there aren't many fields to run around and chillax in, everyone seems to congregate in VW. Added to this it was Sunday and the last day of half term! There were children on scooters, people on bikes and dogs running everywhere. We saw one kid majorly stack it on his scooter - it was actually impressive! It was an awesome day and it was super nice to get out of the block. I also discovered some awesome new places to skate - the paths are so smooth. Perfect for Nelly (my Penny Nickle) and I to go skating :)

I'm a person that gets a bit claustrophobic if around people all the time (or I'm just a bit unsociable!), either way it's nice to get some peace and quiet now and again and VW is the perfect place for this. This morning I went for a skate around the lake and it was so nice to be alone and do my own thing, even if it was just 30 mins. (post to come) I will definitely be walking/skating over there soon, just to sit by the lake and read. Perfect.

I know, our kitchen is a mess. Well, was a mess because, you'll be delighted to know, it has been cleaned and no longer resembles a pig sty (well not as much).

 above picture from Hollie.

 Above three pictures from Ettore.

 

SKATEBOARDS, BOOKS & SOCKS

Yes, it's christmas in the Thomas household. This year we had a very relaxed day without much fuss at all (just 5 of us and Hendrix). I woke up about an hour later this year than previous years (8am) had a shower and changed before anyone else had gotten out of bed. To continue with tradition I headed into Owen's room and we opened our stockings. In the stocking we get smaller gifts such as socks, mugs, puzzles and some jewellery. We then took our stockings into our parents' room and showed them what we got from Santa (yes, we are 21 and 18 years old)!

Once everyone was ready we had croissants and bucks fizz for breakfast. With only crumbs left on our plate we ventured in to the living room where Santa leaves the bigger presents. I received gifts including a Radley bag, Henry Holland jumper, Miss Dior perfume and a Great Gatsby poster. The best gift however, was the awesome Penny Skateboard that Santa brought. It's a blue 'Nickel' board with red wheels and white trucks. I have not gone a day without being on the board for at least two hours! Yesterday I went for my first proper outing on the penny (proper - meaning not going back and forth down the hall way!). It was a three mile ride and it was completely awesome. Living in West Wales it's very hard to find a place that is flat and even if flat it's hard to find a place that is properly concreted and not filled with potholes or chippings. So most of the journey was downhill which was scary, fun, scary & exhilarating all at the same time! I love this gift.

One of my other favourite gift was the Blog Inc. book I received which is written by Joy Deangdeelert Cho of Oh Joy! It's a must for any aspiring blogger or for an existing blogger who wants to know how to improve their blog both aesthetically and contextually. I haven't put it down since I opened it Christmas morning. Along with this book I opened many travel books which are just teasing me at the moment until I finish university in three years then they'll (hopefully) be my bible as I travel around the world :)

I hope you had a very merry christmas :)

p.s you might have noticed the new name and design of this blog. I thought it needed a change not only to celebrate almost a year of blogging but also to make it look cleaner and sharp. The name I changed so it'll be easier for people to find. I've lost count at how many times I've had to repeat my old blog name to people as they have no idea what I've just said and then I had to spell it out for them. Hopefully this new look & name will be easier for all of us (: Hope you like it! 

GO GO GO GETTIT

Yesterday was a strange day. A good, fun, but very strange day! Myself along with the other head prefect went in to school (now our old school!) to have a photo for the local newspapers. After the photo myself and Ruth went to see some teachers. Walking around school was strange! However, it was really nice to see some of our teachers before we left for uni! After our trip around school, we headed for lunch in town. We let our food settle for a bit and then we headed to the gym! I didn't really feel fresh in the gym yesterday as I've been out on the bike doing 20+ milers nearly everyday this week so . . . ! I arrived home but before I had a chance to sit down I was out on the road again to see the grandparents!

Walking around school yesterday reminded me that I hadn't posted the photos of our last official day of school back in June. So here they are!

LIFE LATELY . . .

. . . this is what I've been up to in the last week or so.

Friday was such a beautifully sunny day, something that we haven't really experienced much here in Wales over the summer. Apparently, this has been the wettest summer for over a 100 years! The Olympics and Paralymics, however, did manage to bring us some sunshine! Friday was my rest day off the bike, so instead I headed out with Hendrix for a walk and waw, the views were awesome! I know I've lived here all my life and sometimes you dislike the place because it's sooooo far from everywhere else, but on days like these you seem to forget about that and just enjoy the birds singing and the sun shine!

After our walk it was time to head over to a friends house for supper. He had invited some friends over before we all leave for uni. It was nice just to relax and laugh with friends over a nice plate of curry and a couple of drinks!

I arrived home Saturday morning, had a shower, and I was soon out of the door again! My dad was filming a wedding and my brother was working so mam and I headed over to the Daffodil restaurant in Penrhywllan. Saturday was the same or even hotter than Friday! We were able to eat our lunch out on the decking looking out over the green hills and trees! Beautiful! Once we finished our food we headed to Aberaeron for some pudding! I had a coffee frappe and a piece of butterscotch drizzle cake! We ate our pudding whilst sitting on the harbour wall looking out at the crazily calm sea! For the whole summer I haven't seen it so still and calm! Quite relaxing actually! Saturday night saw the return of the fantastic comedy The Thick Of It and some more memorable moments from the Paralympic and London 2012 games.

Sunday. I really enjoy Sunday's. It's the kind of day when you can go for a 20 + mile cycle and then chillax for the rest of the day. Yesterday, I had planned on going on the bike but it was so windy and I didn't fee; 100% it just wouldn't have been fun. Instead I went for a 3 and a half mile walk with Hendrix and mam. This is another thing I like about Sundays is that you can finish a 3 mile walk in 2 and a half hours and not feel guilty or having to rush to get ready to do something else! The reason for the marathon time was that we were also collecting  blackberries and that takes forever! We had a poopie bag full of berries which we used to bake a blackberry crumble later in the afternoon. Yuuumie! Sunday night saw the end of an amazing summer of sport with the awesome closing ceremony of the Paralympic games. What an inspirational couple of months. The french film 'Heartbreaker' was on BBC Four when I went to bed (one of my favourite films!), a lush end to a relaxing day!